In June 1969, in New York City, gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and gender-nonconforming people live under laws that make same-sex intimacy a crime and give police broad power to raid bars and arrest them. The film focuses on the Stonewall Inn, a Mafia-run bar in Greenwich Village that serves as one of the few places where queer people, especially street youth and trans women, can gather. A routine late-night police raid there turns into a street fight, as people refuse to line up, resist arrest, and push officers back from the bar.

The documentary weaves interviews with participants, police, and witnesses with archival footage to show how the first night of resistance grows into several nights of unrest. Crowds swell, coins and bottles fly, and impromptu lines of protesters taunt and surround police, forcing them at times to retreat into the bar for safety. The film highlights how this moment feels different from earlier, quieter approaches to gay rights: inspired by civil rights and anti–Vietnam War protests, people decide they will no longer suffer in silence and can be just as bold in demanding their rights.

From there, Stonewall Uprising traces how new groups and tactics emerge. Activists form organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and organize public marches, including the first pride commemorations one year later. At the same time, the film notes that legal change is slow, repression continues, and many of the most marginalized people at Stonewall—especially trans women of color and homeless youth—do not gain lasting safety or recognition, even as the movement grows.